When building a new home, most people want a sturdy and long-lasting design above all else. To accomplish this, you need the right building materials. And while the best building materials for a home tend to depend on local weather conditions and climates, there are a few materials that are great, durable choices.
As a general contractor in Central Florida, we at Tallen Builders know a thing or two about different building materials for your home or commercial building. In this blog, we’d like to share the top five most durable building materials used today.
Building with Wood
Wood has been used in construction for many years, and for good reason. Once cut into timber and treated to remove moisture, wood is a building material that can be used in most climates. Wood has an amazing ability to bend under large amounts of pressure but still retain its strength. This flexibility allows wood structures to absorb and dissipate energy easily, which makes wood a particularly good material for earthquake-prone areas. Currently, the most common types of wood used for building in the United States are pines and firs, but many other options still exist.
Concrete with Reinforcements
Though technically reinforced concrete is made up of a few different components, it is the way these pieces work together that makes this such a strong material. Concrete is made up of stone and sand which is then mixed with a hardening binder like cement and water. By itself, concrete does not have the best tensile strength (which is how much stress it can withstand), but with steel rod and mesh reinforcements, the strength is vastly improved! Reinforced concrete is a relatively cheap building material for the amount of strength, versatility and support it can provide.
Brick and Mortar
Brick is an ancient building material that can be traced back to ancient China and Rome. Bricks are usually made of clay, and can be made either with a mold, or by pushing the clay mixture through a die, then cutting the individual bricks. There are two main types of brick that exist, fired brick and non-fired brick, with fired-brick being the most common type you see today. Brick is naturally energy efficient, offers fire and wind protection and is great at controlling moisture.
Durable Heavy-Weight Stone
Stone can be found as a building material all over the world, and is the longest lasting building material there is. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to work with. Difficult to collect and heavy to move, stone is not the most popular building material. But when stone can be used, it provides fantastic strength against the elements, and in hot climates it can really help keep your interior cool. Much of the stone you see today is most likely stone veneer or a synthetic material created to look like stone.
Steel and Iron
These are the top dogs of building materials when it comes to tall commercial structures. As societies began to demand taller buildings, a better supportive framework was needed. This is where steel and iron come in. These materials provide an excellent support framework for buildings that places a lot of weight on load-bearing walls. As mentioned before, these materials can be embedded in concrete or they can be the foundation by themselves. Steel in particular has become easy to produce and can also be recycled, making it a great choice for environmentally-conscious builders.
Interested in learning more about the materials used to build your home? Reach out to us on any of our social channels! And of course, for any new building or remodeling help, feel free to give us a call or send us a message through our contact page.
The best #buildingmaterials to use for your home! (And we explain why of course) http://t.co/m4hr4aHIGu
— Tallen Builders (@TallenBuilders) September 9, 2014